HealthRider R3000T Exercise Bike Review

Newly introduced to the UK market, the HealthRider brand of products are manufactured by the world’s largest fitness equipment manufacturer: Icon Health & Fitness – the people behind the ProForm and NordicTrack brands.

The R3000T model from HealthRider is their upright exercise bike model in their brand new 2015 range of products and with such a big manufacturer behind the brand, we were eager to find out what it’s really like.

Assembly of the bike is fairly straightforward with the main part of the machine housing the flywheel already assembled. It’s a case of following the instructions to attach the front and rear stabilisers, seat post and seat, upright and console, pedals and various plastics parts.

Once assembled, it’s clear that this is quite a substantial exercise bike and not some ‘compact’ (a.k.a small & flimsy) machine that’s trying to save space. We can’t tell if HealthRider were intentionally going for the ‘dull workhorse’ look, but it’s something they’ve definitely achieved. This bike will not be winning any design awards for its visual appearance. We’re really hoping that what this HealthRider is lacking in looks, it’ll make up in function – after all, an exercise bike shouldn’t be getting stared at for being a nice looking piece of furniture, but actually getting used!

The first hint that ‘usage’ is what HealthRider were really focused on when designing the R3000T comes from the seat. It’s a little bit larger than the seats on most exercise bikes and has a gel padding for added comfort (a feature they’re obvious keen to stress as the seat design has a clear panel to make the gel padding visible!). We can confirm that the seat is quite comfortable and not overly soft. As you’d expect from a bike of this sort of price point, the seat can be adjusted for both height and reach.

The pedalling action on the R3000T is pretty smooth and has a nice feel about it. We can confirm that the resistance levels on offer range from very light to rock hard at the top level. A gauge of the quality for us is that at the top resistance setting, the pedalling action is still smooth.

The R3000T has a large console with a decent sized, back-lit LCD display in the middle. With a plethora of buttons, it’s fairly obvious that this console offers a fair few options. It’d be hard to miss the row of coloured buttons referring to iFit Live across the middle of the console. The R3000T is compatible with iFit Live but to use it requires the purchase of of an iFit module and subscription (typically around £100 for both a module and a 12 month subscription). The iFit Live system has way too many features to cover in any depth in this review, but for more information, we’d recommend visiting iFit.com

One of the first things that we noticed on this console was that there are 10 buttons across the bottom portion to adjust the resistance to the desired level between 2 and 20 (max resistance). This feature is rather handy for those that wish to use the bike for manually controlled interval training as jumping between the extremes of resistance needed for interval training can be achieved with single button presses.

The LCD screen provides all the feedback you’d expect of a bike at this sort of price point, but there are a few other bits of info that can be displayed that we really liked. As an example, in addition to displaying the estimated calorie consumption figures of a workout, the display can also show the calories per hour figure to reflect the resistance and current pedalling speed. This is something we’ve seen quite often on machines in the gym and think it’s quite motivational to see.

Another unexpected ‘nice to have’ is a “settings” button that allows the user to configure various things such as whether the bike is operating in metric or imperial units (though weirdly it calls imperial ‘English’) and the contrast of the LCD display.

In terms of programmes, there are 20 built-in work outs, divided up into speed and calorie goal workouts. As each is selected (using the dedicated speed or calorie programme buttons), the resistance profile of the programme, as well as its duration is displayed on the LCD display.

So, is this the perfect console? Well, not quite! There are two slight negatives: the first is that there is no wireless heart rate receiver built in, so for those looking to track their heart rate or do heart rate control training, the R3000T isn’t the best choice. The second is that there are no standard user profiles (age, weight, gender, height) built into the console to get personalised calorie consumption figures. For that, it’s necessary to fork out extra to get the iFit Live module and subscription. That being said we shouldn’t lose sight of the price and what you get for your money. As an overall package this R3000T is a LOT of exercise bike for the price being paid!

A max user weight of 115 kg on the R3000T actually seems conservative given the size and weight of the machine and we’re confident that this bike can withstand some pretty heavy usage. There’s a two year manufacturer’s warranty on offer show anything go wrong, though you do need to register the machine within 28 days of purchase to quality for the 2nd year.

The R3000T from HealthRider is particularly well suited to those seeking a clear and easy to use bike and are considering interval training as part of their exercise routine. With plenty of buttons on the console to access the different features, this bike is hard to beat for the combination of simplicity and control plus it's big, it's comfortable and feels like it's built like a tank. All in all this is a good buy and we're happy to recommend it.

HealthRider R3000T Specifications

10kg (22lbs) flywheel

20 levels of Silent Magnetic Resistance

Console with a 5″ backlit LCD display

20 programmes (10 calorie, 10 performance) + iFit Live compatibility

Heart rate measurement via pulse grip sensors or a wireless receiver (both, the receiver and the chest belt have to be bought separately)

Whilst every effort is made to give you accurate information we cannot guarantee the technical specification. Models change on a regular basis and may differ slightly from the above review. We recommend you contact the retailer if you have a question regarding technical data. Please read our Legal Disclaimer